Results 9,341-9,360 of 26,843 for speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sharing time with Deputy Barry. The Minister has sought to assure people that there is no plan to cut the pandemic unemployment payment, and we heard similar assurances from the Taoiseach yesterday. I will outline why people have reason to be distrustful of those assurances. First, it is worth remembering that the original proposal from the Government for support for people who lost...

Covid-19 (Local Government): Statements (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There should be no buck-passing. The guidelines just need to be changed as this is public health we are talking about. These overcrowded conditions were unacceptable from the get-go but now they just simply are not compliant with public health guidelines. Accordingly, these guidelines should be changed. One of the rather grim facts of the Covid-19 situation is the pretty awful spike in...

Covid-19 (Local Government): Statements (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am sharing time with Deputy Barry. I should probably be directing this question to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, but I will ask it anyway. I have made fairly well known my views that the box-room, rabbit-hutch accommodation known as co-living is not something that should be allowed in this country. It is just a way to make money for...

Covid-19 (Local Government): Statements (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is back and forth. I will come back.

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Spokespeople for Fianna Fáil and Ministers from Fine Gael have been expressing horror at the idea that people who may have earned less when working before Covid-19 are now getting €350 a week. They are trying to justify suggestions that the €350 payment should be cut for those people and many others who have already seen a reduction in income. Does the Taoiseach think...

Covid-19 (Taoiseach): Statements (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Taoiseach went way over time. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty, has talked about cutting and tapering the Covid payment, saying it is unsustainable. Deputy Rabbitte of Fianna Fáil has said that the payment is unfair and unsustainable. It is not. People who are earning multiples of the amount of the payment are suggesting it is unfair,...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I believe this is also relevant to the debate around our ability to have committee hearings. Public health advice about the health implications of proximity is acting as a barrier to having further committees to cover the many different areas in our society where people are in real trouble and need their voices heard. We are told we can only have one committee because of physical...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: This House is doing essential work to represent the people of this country.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I would appreciate it if the Taoiseach would respond to my inquiry as well.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: He has not done so far. My point concerns the procedures and the schedule for this week. This schedule is a sham. Commitments to transparency relating to issues such as the expert advisory group to the NPHET are made in the House and then they are just ignored.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The point of this place is basic transparency and accountability. If I ask for the minutes of the expert advisory group for two months, am promised them time and time again and never get them, something is wrong. I want the Taoiseach to tell the Minister for Health to publish the minutes of the expert advisory group. We need to know what the experts told NPHET.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: The Taoiseach did hear it-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: No, hold on, a Cheann Comhairle. I am pointing out that the procedures and the mechanisms for accountability set up by the Business Committee, where I first sought the publication of the minutes of the expert advisory group on 16 March-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: On 16 March-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: There were multiple commitments. Are commitments made-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: No, I am asking whether commitments made in this House and to the Business Committee are respected or are they just meaningless.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I got answers, I have got commitments and promises and they have come to nothing.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: At this point the Dáil and the Business Committee are being treated with contempt by the refusal to publish the minutes of the expert advisory group; the people who are supposed to be advising NPHET on the public health response.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: It is not just the sub-committee; it is this House and the Business Committee.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 May 2020)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I concur with that point, but I want to raise another issue. The sessions we are having this week, and indeed every week, were established on the basis that we could ask questions of Ministers and get accountability during the Covid-19 pandemic. Last week in the Dáil, I was given a commitment by the CMO that they would publish the minutes of the expert advisory group to NPHET.